Introduction

This publication provides key statistics relating to offenders who are in prison or under Probation Service supervision. It covers flows into these services (receptions into prison or probation starts) and flows out (discharges from prison or probation terminations) as well as the caseload of both services at specific points in time. Latest figures for the quarter April to June 2013 are provided compared to the same period in 2012 for each topic as well as reference to longer term trends, with the exception of the prison population where more recent data is available (30 September 2013).

The contents of the report will be of interest to the public, government policy makers, the agencies responsible for offender management at both national and local levels, and others who want to understand more about the prison population, probation caseload, licence recalls and returns to custody.

The statistics included in this publication are used extensively and meet a broad spectrum of user needs as shown below.

| User | Summary of main statistical needs | |-------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | MOJ Ministers | Use the statistics to monitor the prison population and capacity of the prison estate; monitor effectiveness of probation service and whether resources are deployed efficiently; assess policy impacts (e.g. changes to sentencing guidance) | | MPs and House of Lords | Statistics are used to answer parliamentary questions – approximately 100 are answered each year using prison and probation data | | Policy teams | Statistics are used to inform policy development, to monitor impact of changes over time and to model future changes and their impact on the system | | Agencies responsible for offender management | Current and historical robust administrative data are used to support performance management information at national and local levels within each agency to complement their understanding of the current picture and trends over time | | Academia, students and businesses | Used as a source of statistics for research purposes and to support lectures, presentations and conferences, e.g. data on female foreign national prisoners are included in ‘The Criminalisation of Migrant Women’ report published by the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge in July 2012 | | Journalists | Used as a compendium of robust data on offender management so that an accurate and coherent story can be told on the prison population and probation service | Voluntary sector | Data are used to inform policy work, responses to consultations and briefing papers by analysing trends and changes to the prison population, e.g. the Prison Reform Trust use published offender management data to compile the ‘Bromley Briefing Prison Factfiles’

General public | Data are used to respond to ad-hoc requests and requests made under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act: offender management data is used to answer around 100 FOIs each year

This bulletin is published alongside three inter-related bulletins:

- **Proven Re-offending Statistics Quarterly**: provides proven re-offending figures for offenders who were released from custody, received a non-custodial conviction at court, received a caution, reprimand, warning or tested positive for opiates or cocaine in the 12 months ending December 2011.

- **Safety in Custody Statistics Quarterly update to June 2013**: provides statistics on death, self harm and assault incidents whilst in prison custody.

- **MAPPA (Multi agency public protection arrangements) Annual Report 2012/13**: this annual publication presents the number of MAPPA eligible offenders in England and Wales, and information related to these offenders, including a summary of the information provided in the MAPPA reports published by each of the areas.

Taken together, these publications present users with a more coherent overview of offender management including re-offending among both adults and young people, the safety of offenders whilst in prison custody and the programmes undertaken by offenders whilst in prison or under Probation Service supervision.

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

- meet identified user needs;
- are well explained and readily accessible;
- are produced according to sound methods; and
- are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics, it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. Table 1: Overview – latest period compared to the previous year

| | 30 September 2013 | Percentage change 30 September 2012 to 30 September 2013 | |--------------------------------|-------------------|----------------------------------------------------------| | **Prison population** | 84,488 | -2% ↓ | | Remand | 11,429 | -3% ↓ | | Untried | 7,999 | 0% → | | Convicted unsentenced | 3,430 | -9% ↓ | | **Under sentence** | | | | Fine Defaulters | 71,113 | -3% ↓ | | Less than or equal to 6 months | 117 | -15% ↓ | | Greater than 6 months to less | 4,710 | -10% ↓ | | 12 months to less than 4 years | 2,345 | -4% ↓ | | 4 years or more (excluding | 19,400 | -6% ↓ | | indeterminate sentences) | 26,444 | 3% ↑ | | Indeterminate sentences | 12,963 | -5% ↓ | | Recalls | 5,134 | -8% ↓ | | **Non criminal** | 1,946 | 49% ↑ |

| | Percentage change April-June 2012 to 2013 | |--------------------------------|------------------------------------------| | **Prison receptions** | | | First receptions | 27,129 | | Remand - untried | 12,486 | | Remand - convicted unsentenced| 8,323 | | **Under sentence** | | | Fine Defaulters | 20,534 | | Less than or equal to 6 months | 9,546 | | Greater than 6 months to less | 2,022 | | 12 months to less than 4 years| 6,326 | | 4 years or more (excluding | 2,290 | | indeterminate sentences) | 119 | | Indeterminate sentences | 192 | | **Prison discharges** | | | Determinate sentences | 19,989 | | Less than or equal to 6 months | 8,448 | | Greater than 6 months to less | 2,033 | | 12 months to less than 4 years | 7,086 | | 4 years or more (excluding | 2,422 | | indeterminate sentences) | | | Indeterminate sentences | 192 | | Indeterminate sentence for | 112 | | public protection (IPP) | | | Life sentence | 80 | | **Average percentage of time** | | | served(1) | | | Determinate sentences | 52% | | Less than or equal to 6 months | -2 pp ↓ | | Greater than 6 months to less | 46% | | 12 months to less than 4 years | -2 pp ↓ | | 4 years or more (excluding | 49% | | indeterminate sentences) | 0 pp → | | 55% | -2 pp ↓ | | **Probation starts** | | | All court orders | 37,600 | | All community sentences | 26,430 | | Community order | 25,939 | | **Other sentences** | | | Suspended sentence order | 11,187 | | Pre release supervision | 10,079 |

| | Percentage change 30 June 2012 to 30 June 2013 | |--------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------| | **Persons supervised by the** | | | **Probation Service** | | | All court orders | 109,771 | | All community sentences | 74,935 | | Community order | 73,279 | | All pre CJA orders | 117 | | Other sentences | 37,316 | | Deferred sentence | 91 | | Suspended sentence order | 37,241 | | All pre and post release | 111,144 | | supervision | | | Pre release supervision | 69,706 | | Post release supervision | 41,876 |

| | April-June 2013 | |--------------------------------|-----------------| | **Licence recalls** | | | Recalled in latest quarter | 4,348 | | Not returned to custody by 30 | 73 | | September 2013 | | | **Total not returned to** | 1,002 | | custody by 30 September 2013 | |

1. Average percentage of time served includes time served on remand; change in percentages are given as percentage point change (pp). Prison population

The prison population grew rapidly between 1993 to 2008 – an average of 4% a year. This rapid rise was driven by:

- Increased numbers of people sentenced to immediate custody from 1993 to 2002.
- Increases in the average custodial sentence length and increased use of indeterminate sentences.
- Increase in numbers recalled to prison following breaches of the conditions of licence and these offenders spending longer in prison once recalled.

The rise in the prison population slowed considerably from the summer of 2008, in part due to the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (CJIA) 2008, which changed sentencing and offender management in ways which helped to reduce growth in the prison population. For more information, see CJIA 2008.

This flatter trend continued until the public disorder seen in UK cities from 6 to 9 August 2011 which had an immediate but temporary impact on the prison population. During 2012 and into 2013, the prison population began to fall due to a falling remand population and a continued decline in the number of under 18s in custody. The falling remand population during 2012 reflected falling volumes going through the courts plus the introduction, in December 2012, of measures restricting the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a custodial sentence.

Over the most recent quarter (between 30 June and 30 September 2013), the prison population increased, due to a relatively large rise in the remand population which may be the result of changes to court committals.

The ‘Story of the Prison Population 1993 to 2012’ is an in-depth look at what happened to the prison population between 1993 and 2012 and the major factors contributing to the changes: www.gov.uk/government/publications/story-of-the-prison-population-1993-2012

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1 Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012: services.parliament.uk/bills/2010-11/legalaidsentencingandpunishmenttoffenders.html The prison population at 30 September 2013 was 84,488, a decrease of 1,969 (2%) compared to 30 September 2012 when the total population was 86,457.

This overall fall in the prison population was seen for males and females, and in both the remand and sentenced populations. However within the year-on-year fall, there are some changing trends within the year, particularly within the remand population.

Between September 2012 and September 2013, the remand population fell by 3%. Looking across the year, the remand population fell throughout much of 2012 reflecting falling volumes going through the courts. The introduction, in December 2012, of measures restricting the use of remand for offenders who would be unlikely to receive a custodial sentence further reduced the remand population. By February 2013, the full impact of these measures had been realised and the remand population then remained relatively stable until the end of August 2013 when it began to rise. The rise since end August may be the result of changes to court committals.

The sentenced population also fell by 3% over the last year with falls across every age group: adults (age 21+) down 2%; young adults (18-20) down 18%; and 15-17 year olds down a third. This is consistent with trends in prison receptions where we have seen falling numbers of males and females entering prison to serve a sentence.

Within the adult sentenced population, the numbers serving long determinate sentences of 4 years or more continued to rise, while the numbers serving shorter sentences continued to fall. Over 40% of the increase in long determinate sentences was due to the introduction of the new Extended Determinate Sentence (EDS) (see paragraph below) - 462 offenders were serving such a sentence as at 30 September 2013.

The number of prisoners serving indeterminate sentences (either a life sentence or an Indeterminate Sentence for Public Protection – an IPP) continued to fall with the IPP and life sentence populations falling by 9% and 2% respectively. This reflects the sentencing changes introduced in December 2012 which abolished the IPP (IPPs can now only be imposed in very exceptional circumstances) and introduced the new EDS which is available for offenders that would previously have received an IPP or an extended sentence.

Within the indeterminate sentenced population, 42% were serving an IPP (5,468) while 58% were serving life sentences (7,495). Almost two-thirds of IPP prisoners had passed their tariff expiry date. There were 44 offenders serving a whole life sentence as at 30 September 2013. In addition to this, 7 prisoners serving whole life sentences were being treated in secure hospitals.

As at 30 September 2013, there were 1,946 non-criminals in prison, up 644, or 49% from the previous year. Half of this increase is due to the NOMS agreement with the Home Office to hold an increased number of immigration detainees. The other half of the rise is the result of data quality work to improve the recording of offenders who are held post-sentence pending deportation (who should be recorded as non-criminals, but historically at any given time, around 300 have wrongly remained recorded as sentenced prisoners). While it was not possible to also carry out the data quality work on last year's prison population, it is likely that the impact would have been similar (around 300 non-criminal prisoners incorrectly recorded as sentenced prisoners at both points in time).

The foreign national prisoner population was 10,760 as at 30 September 2013, accounting for 13% of the prison population (the same proportion as in recent quarters). This figure includes Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs). When looking at the population excluding IRCs, 12% were foreign national prisoners (again the same proportion as in recent quarters).

An increasing proportion of sentenced prisoners are serving sentences for the most serious offences. As at 30 September 2013, 27% of the sentenced population had committed violence against the person offences, an increase from 21% in 2000. Similarly, the proportion serving sentences for sexual offences increased from 10% in 2000 to 15% in September 2013. In contrast, the number serving sentences for motoring offences has fallen steadily over time, now comprising 1% of the sentenced population compared with 4% in 2000 and the proportion serving sentences for burglary has fallen from 17% in 2000 to 10% as at 30 September 2013. Prison receptions

In the quarter ending June 2013, there were 27,129 first receptions into prison, a fall of 1% compared to the same period in the previous year.

There was a 2% increase in the number of untried receptions – those remanded in custody awaiting trial – in the quarter ending June 2013 compared to the quarter ending June 2012. In contrast, convicted unsentenced receptions – those remanded in custody awaiting sentence – fell by 8%.

There was a 4% fall in the number of prisoners received under sentence in the quarter ending June 2013 compared to the quarter ending June 2012. This fall was driven by falling numbers of sentences of less than 4 years (down 5%), while longer determinate sentences continued to rise (up 4%).

The rise in numbers received into prison to serve a long determinate sentence partly reflects the impact of sentencing changes introduced in December 2012 which abolished IPPs and introduced the new extended determinate sentence(^2). These changes also resulted in a large fall in the number of offenders entering prison to serve an indeterminate sentence (down 24%).

Prison discharges

A total of 19,989 offenders were discharged from determinate sentences in the quarter ending June 2013, a fall of 7% from the quarter ending June 2012.

In line with the trends in prison receptions, this overall fall was driven by falling numbers discharged from sentences of less than 4 years, while numbers released from longer sentences continued to rise.

As well as those discharged from determinate sentences, 112 offenders were discharged from an Indeterminate sentence for Public Protection (IPP), and 80 offenders from a life sentence (up slightly from 111 and 77 the previous year). In addition, 30 indeterminate sentenced prisoners were removed under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) - this scheme allows indeterminate sentenced foreign national prisoners, who are liable to removal from the UK, to be removed from prison and the country upon, or any date after, the expiry of their tariff without reference to the Parole Board. This scheme began in May 2012, and by the end of June 2013 there had been 186 removals in total.

(^2) [www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/part/3/chapter/5](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/part/3/chapter/5) Those discharged from determinate sentences in the quarter ending June 2013 had, on average, served 52% of their sentence in custody (including time on remand). On average males served a greater proportion of their sentence in custody – 52% compared to 48% for females in the quarter ending June 2013. This gender difference is consistent over time, and partly reflects the higher proportion of females who are released on Home Detention Curfew (HDC – under which certain offenders can be released on an electronically monitored curfew up to 135 days before the halfway point of their sentence when they would otherwise be released).

A total of 2,612 prisoners were released on HDC in the quarter ending June 2013, down by a fifth from the quarter ending June 2012. To be considered for release under HDC, an offender must be serving a sentence of less than 4 years and the number of prisoners serving such sentences has been falling (see population section above). The decrease in the eligible population will have a direct impact on the number that can be considered for HDC release and subsequently on the number of prisoners that are released on HDC. Prisoners released on HDC in the quarter ending June 2013 spent an average of 2.8 months on HDC, down slightly from 2.9 months in the quarter ending June 2012.

**Probation**

The total annual probation caseload (court orders and pre and post release supervision) increased by 39% between 2000 and 2008 to 243,434. Since then the probation caseload has fallen year on year, reaching 224,823 at the end of 2012. The rise between 2000 and 2008 was driven by:

- Introduction of new court orders, in particular the Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) in 2005 (under the Criminal Justice Act 2003).
- Increase in pre and post-release supervision caseload due to:
  - continued growth in the number of offenders serving custodial sentences of 12 months or more who require supervision on release from custody,
  - offenders spending longer periods on licence after release from custody under CJA 2003.

The number being supervised at the end of 2012 (the caseload) continued the decrease seen in each of the previous four years; community orders fell by 9% and SSOs by 8% compared to 2011. As at the end of June 2013, the total caseload fell again – down 5% compared to the end of June 2012. Looking at the latest quarter, the court order caseload continued to decrease with the community order caseload down 9% and the SSO caseload down 8% between the quarters ending June 2012 and June 2013. The number of offenders starting court orders also decreased over this period, with starts of community orders down 6% while starts of SSOs were unchanged from the previous year. The SSO caseload continued to fall despite the stability seen in SSO starts this quarter - this is due to the general downward trend seen in SSO starts in previous quarters combined with a decrease in the average length of SSOs which results in offenders spending less time on the caseload.

The caseload of offenders supervised before or after release from prison showed a slight decrease of 1% between the quarter ending June 2012 and quarter ending June 2013. However, there was a 1% increase in the number supervised post release, which is consistent with the increasing numbers sentenced to long custodial sentences (who will therefore spend longer on licence after release). The caseload of offenders being supervised before release from prison saw a 2% fall which reflects the decrease in the number of pre-release supervision starts – down by 12% (and consistent with prison receptions where the number of offenders starting prison sentences continues to fall).

The number of requirements started under court orders continued to fall between the quarters ending June 2012 and June 2013 in line with the decrease in the number of court order starts. Much of this decrease was driven by falls in the number of curfew and unpaid work requirements given under both community orders and SSOs. Most requirements saw a fall, with the exceptions being specified activities, drug treatment and alcohol treatment requirements.

Of the 25,100 community orders terminated in the quarter ending June 2013, 68% had run their full course or were terminated early for good progress, a slight increase on the 67% in the previous quarter ending June 2012. The percentage of SSOs which had run their full course or were terminated early for good progress remained at 68% over the period.

A total of 42,793 court reports were prepared in the quarter ending June 2013, 9% down on the quarter ending June 2012, reflecting the continuing downward trend in the number of cases being dealt with by the courts. The decrease was driven by a large fall in the number of Standard PSRs (Pre-Sentence Reports), which were down 31%. There was a 5% fall in the number of oral Fast delivery reports, whereas the use of written Fast delivery reports increased by 7% over the same period.

In general, courts follow the sentences proposed in PSRs, particularly where an immediate custodial sentence has been recommended - 88% of such proposed sentences in PSRs resulted in immediate custody.

**Licence recalls**

Offenders serving a sentence of twelve months and over are released from prison, in most cases automatically at the half way point of their sentence, under licensed supervision to the Probation Service. They are all subject to a set of standard licence conditions, requiring them to report regularly to the Probation Service, live at an address approved by the Probation Service and to be of good behaviour.

A key element of public protection is that offenders released on licence should be effectively supervised in the community and swiftly recalled to custody if their behaviour gives cause for concern. It is explained to offenders at the outset that they may be recalled to custody if they breach any of the conditions of their licence.

There are various reasons why offenders are recalled to custody for breaching their licence conditions besides committing a further offence. For example, an offender may be recalled if there is any deterioration in behaviour which leads the Probation Service to conclude that there is an increased risk of the offender committing further offences.

Over the period 1999 to June 2013, a total of 630,000 offenders were released from prison on licence supervision. Between April 1999 and June 2013 around 160,000 of those released on licence were recalled to custody for breaching the conditions of their licence, e.g. failing to report to their probation officer. Of all those recalled to custody, only 1,002 had not been returned to custody by the end of September 2013. This total may include some offenders believed to be dead or living outside of the UK but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

Of the 1,002 not returned to custody by 30 September 2013, 126 had originally been serving a prison sentence for violence against the person offences and a further 35 for sexual offences.

During the quarter ending June 2013, a total of 4,348 offenders had their licence revoked and were recalled. By 30 September 2013, 4,275 of these recalled offenders had been returned to custody and 73 had not been returned to custody.

The end-to-end measure across all agencies involved in the process is for 75% of recalled offenders to be returned to custody within 74 hours for emergency recalls and 144 hours for standard recalls. In the quarter ending 30 June 2013, 3,444 (79%) were returned within agreed timescales.

Figure 1.3: Number of offenders not returned to custody by quarter, by major offence group

(1) Offence categories changed from Sep 2010 so not shown for earlier periods References

This publication and associated spreadsheet files of the tables contained in this document and detailed information of definitions, sources and key legislative changes are available for download at

www.gov.uk/government/publications/offender-management-statistics-quarterly--2

Bulletins from earlier related series are available at

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/statistics List of quarterly tables

Prison population

Table 1.1a: Total population in custody by type of custody and age group, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.1b: Male population in custody by type of custody and age group, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.1c: Female population in custody by type of custody and age group, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.2: Population in custody by type of custody, sex and age group, at end of month, July to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.2a: Population in custody by type of custody, sex and age group, at end of month, April to June 2013, England and Wales (revised)

Table 1.3a: Total remand and sentenced population in prison by offence group and sex, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.3b: Adult remand and sentenced population in prison by offence group and sex, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.3c: 18 to 20 year olds remand and sentenced population in prison by offence group and sex, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.3d: 15 to 17 year olds remand and sentenced population in prison by offence group and sex, on a quarterly basis, June 2012 to September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.4: Indeterminate sentence prisoner population, by tariff length and tariff expiry date, 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.4a: Indeterminate sentence prisoner population, by tariff length and tariff expiry date, 30 June 2013, England and Wales (revised)

Table 1.5: Population in prison by sex, establishment and nationality status, 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 1.6: Population in prison, by nationality and sex, 30 September 2013, England and Wales Table 1.7: Population in prison by sex and ethnic group, June 2012 to September 2013

Table 1.8: Population in prison by sex and age group, June 2012 to September 2013

Table 1.9a: Total population detained by type of accommodation, quarterly, June 2012 to September 2013

Table 1.9b: Total population detained in the youth estate by type of accommodation, quarterly, June 2012 to September 2013

Prison receptions

Table 2.1a: Total receptions into prison establishments by type of custody, sentence length and age group, April - June 2012 to April - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 2.1b: Male receptions into prison establishments by type of custody, sentence length and age group, April - June 2012 to April - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 2.1c: Female receptions into prison establishments by type of custody, sentence length and age group, April - June 2012 to April - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 2.2a: Remand receptions into prison establishments by offence group and sex, April - June 2012 to April - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 2.2b: Immediate custodial sentenced receptions into prison establishments by offence group and sex, April - June 2012 to April - June 2013, England and Wales

Prison discharges

Table 3.1: Discharges from determinate and indeterminate sentences, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 3.2a: Time served in prison by prisoners discharged from determinate sentences, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 3.2b: Time served in prison by male prisoners discharged from determinate sentences, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales Table 3.2c: Time served in prison by female prisoners discharged from determinate sentences, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 3.3: Home Detention Curfew releases by sentence length, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales

Table 3.4: Average time spent, in months, on Home Detention Curfew by sentence length, April 2012 - June 2012 to April 2013 - June 2013, England and Wales

Probation

Table 4.1: Offenders starting court order and pre release supervision by the Probation Service by sex, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.2: Offenders starting court order supervision by the Probation Service by offence group and sex, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.3: Most frequently used combinations of requirements for starts of community orders and suspended sentence orders, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.4: Requirements commenced under community orders and suspended sentence orders, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.5: Offenders starting community orders and suspended sentence orders by Region and Trust, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England & Wales

Table 4.6: Offenders starting community order and suspended sentence order supervision by tier, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.7: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service at end of period, June 2012 to June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.8: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service at end of period under court orders by offence group and sex, June 2012 to June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.9: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service at end of period under court orders by tier, June 2012 to June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.10: Offenders supervised by the Probation Service at 30 June 2013, by Trust, England and Wales

Table 4.11: Percentage of terminations of court orders by reason, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales Table 4.12: Court reports written by the Probation Service by type of report and court, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 4.13: Concordance between sentences proposed and sentences given, where a PSR was prepared, July 2012 - June 2013, England and Wales

Licence recalls

Table 5.1: Summary of licence recalls 1 January 1984 to 30 June 2013 and returns to custody by 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.2: Summary of licence recalls to 30 June 2013 and returns to custody by 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.3: Summary of number of offenders not returned to custody, as at 31 December 2010 to 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.4: Number of offenders recalled from determinate and indeterminate sentences, by custody status, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.5: Number of offenders recalled and not returned to custody by quarter, by offence, as at 30 September 2012 to 30 September 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.6: Number of offenders recalled by 30 June 2013 and not returned to custody by 30 September 2013, by Local Criminal Justice Board, England and Wales

Table 5.7: Length of time between recall and return to custody for recalled offenders, April-June 2012 to April-June 2012, England and Wales

Table 5.8: Length of time since recall for those not returned to custody, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.9: Performance against timescales for licence recalls returned to custody by agency, April-June 2012 to April-June 2013, England and Wales

Table 5.10: Performance against timescales for licence recalls returned to custody by 30 September 2013 by agency, by Local Criminal Justice Board, April-June 2013, England and Wales Appendix A – Data sources and quality

The data presented in this publication are drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. While the figures shown have been checked as far as practicable, they should be regarded as approximate and not necessarily accurate to the last whole number shown in the tables. Where figures in the tables have been rounded to the nearest whole number, the rounded components do not always add to the totals, which are calculated and rounded independently.

Impact of data quality issues and revisions

Population data, April to June 2013

Routine data quality checks identified an issue with how offenders who are held post-sentence awaiting deportation are recorded within the population data. At any given time, around 300 offenders who should be recorded as non-criminals, wrongly remained recorded as sentenced prisoners. This issue has been resolved with effect from April 2013 and revised figures have been provided in all tables reporting the prison population by type of custody and offence.

While it was not possible to also carry out the data quality work on data prior to April 2013, it is likely that the impact would have been similar (around 300 non-criminal prisoners incorrectly recorded as sentenced prisoners at both points in time).

Probation data

From February 2013, there has been a phased introduction and rollout of a national case management information system across all Probation Trusts (n-Delius). As of 30 June 2013, 19 trusts have migrated to the new system.

As a result of that migration, there has been an increase in the number of offenders within the migrated trusts with tier of supervision recorded as ‘Tier not stated’. Investigations are being undertaken to identify the source of this issue and resolve it prior to further trusts moving to the new system.

Pre-sentence court reports (PSR) data

Evidence provided by Probation Trusts suggested that published statistics on the number of PSRs prepared by each trust were lower than those statistics produced by their internal case management systems.

The PSR data collection process in place until 31 March 2012 entailed each trust providing monthly data on the number of reports prepared that month, with the data extracted on or just after the 15th of the following month, e.g. data for July collected on 15th August. On investigation it emerged that many trusts, particularly those in large metropolitan areas, enter some PSRs onto case management systems after this date due to data collection practicalities. To address this issue, trusts were asked to submit each monthly return two months later than previously to allow time for additional reports to be recorded, and the impact on the statistics was assessed.

This new extended data collection process has been introduced for data from April 2012, and we estimate that the statistics now capture between 1 and 3% more PSRs per quarter as reported within Tables 4.12 and 4.13.

Subsequent data quality work has shown that the introduction of a longer time lag between the date a PSR is prepared and when data is extracted from case management systems, i.e. more than two months, would capture more court report data (over and above the additional 1 to 3% now included in the two most recent quarters). However, these further increases were mostly seen in the number of court reports prepared for breaches, court reviews and deferred sentences (see below). For standard and fast delivery pre-sentence reports, a two month time lag captures the vast majority of data and there are diminishing returns in extending the data collection period any further.

During the data quality work described above, it emerged that previously published data for court reviews, PSR breach reports and deferred sentences was incomplete in terms of coverage across all trusts and that there were inconsistencies between trusts in the coverage and content of the data extracted from their case management systems. This data has therefore been removed from Table 4.12 for all quarters – the estimated impact on the total number of reports written is a reduction of around 4,500 reports per quarter.

It is hoped that with the introduction and phased rollout of a national management information system for all Probation trusts (nDelius), more accurate and complete data can be produced on PSR breach reports in future. This will be kept under review.

**Indeterminate sentences for public protection**

Information relating to tariffs for IPP and DPP prisoners and those serving life sentences is held by the Offender Management and Public Protection Group, NOMS, in the Public Protection Unit Database (PPUD).

**Licence recalls and returns to custody**

**Returned to custody** – the figures for those returned to custody include people who have died or been deported by the UK Borders Agency as prior to 2007 this information was not collected separately. The information held centrally records whether or not recalled offenders are still wanted for return to custody but for those offenders no longer wanted for return to custody, information is not held on whether the recall was completed by actual return to custody or because the offender died or was deported.

**Not returned to custody** – this includes those offenders believed to be dead or living outside of the UK but who have not been confirmed as dead or deported.

**Symbols used**

| Symbol | Description | |--------|--------------------------------------------------| | .. | not available | | 0 | Nil or less than half the final digit shown | | - | not applicable | | * | One or both of the comparison figures are less than 50 | | (p) | Provisional data | | (r) | Revised data |

**Revisions policy**

Figures for prison receptions and discharges for each of the first three quarters of the calendar year are generally revised alongside figures for quarter 4 in the October to December publication each year. Prison population, probation and licence recall figures are not routinely revised, but are corrected if an error is identified.

Any revisions will be accompanied by an explanation for the revision and its impact, along with – where appropriate - an assessment of whether the impact is in line with previous revisions (for example when updating from provisional to final prison discharges data). Contact points

Press enquiries should be directed to the Ministry of Justice press office:

Tel: 020 3334 3536

Other enquiries about these statistics should be directed to:

Jo Peacock Ministry of Justice Justice Statistics Analytical Services 7th Floor 102 Petty France London SW1H 9AJ Tel: 020 3334 5066

General enquiries about the statistical work of the Ministry of Justice can be e-mailed to: statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk

General information about the official statistics system of the UK is available from www.statistics.gov.uk

Ministry of Justice publishes data relating to offender management in England and Wales. Equivalent statistics for Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice

www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications.htm

© Crown copyright Produced by the Ministry of Justice Alternative formats are available on request from statistics.enquiries@justice.gsi.gov.uk